Dating a Kona Hei Hei

[jimijazz]

I've got a quick question about my Kona Hei Hei - I got it second hand back in either 97 or 98. It seems to have transition decals on it - spiral on the head tube, but pale blue jungle lettering everywhere else other than an old serif logo on the seat tube!
Serial number is E19667.
The 2 things I would like to know are... what year is it, and what length travel fork is it designed for? At the moment I'm running a FOX TALAS RLC with 85-125mm.

Cheers in advance, and hi!

 

[Kona Paul]

A picture might help. Titanium swirl and jungle lettering don't go together, and no catalogue picture has pale blue jungle lettering, so some of the decals might be replacements?

Put up a pic and wait for Anthony to see the thread.

 

[Anthony]

The 97 ti bikes had either yellow or blue decals, but ti bikes easily lose their decals and this sounds like a mixture - I guess the head tube spiral is more likely to be original than the main ones though. Knowing the cable routing and the length of the seat tube extension would help.

The geometry for the 97 bikes was designed for a 63mm fork, earlier ones were quoted at 40-50mm.

 

[jimijazz]

Seat tube extension is between 65-70mm to top of clamp.
Cable routing runs the brake cable across the top tube, front and rear mechs down the down tube.

 

[DM]

1996?

Did 1997 lose the "dog-collar" brake guide on the seat tube for a rear cable stop welded on the top tube?

 

[Kona Paul]

That's correct. 97 has a braze on.

 

[Anthony]

Sorry to be argumentative, learned friends, but the downtube cable routing means 96 or earlier and so does the seat tube rear brake cable guide. Also the 94-96 ti bikes had short seat-tube extensions, so this bike is almost certainly earlier than 94.

But I suspect this is a 92 Hei Hei, as I've also seen a 93 Hei Hei with a short seat tube extension and the 93 spiral was bright green and purple. I know other 92 Konas had a K on the head tube, but I believe the 92 Hei Heis and Hots were the first bikes to have the spiral. Also the K on the seat tube looks 92ish to me.

If this is so, the geometry was designed for a 40-50 mm fork.

I don't understand the serial number format, so I can't tell anything from that I'm afraid.

 

[DM]

Sorry to be argumentative, learned friends...

Dude, we were just giving it our best guess while we waited for you to arrive

 

[jimijazz]

Sorry to be argumentative, learned friends, but the downtube cable routing means 96 or earlier and so does the seat tube rear brake cable guide. Also the 94-96 ti bikes had short seat-tube extensions, so this bike is almost certainly earlier than 94.

But I suspect this is a 92 Hei Hei, as I've also seen a 93 Hei Hei with a short seat tube extension and the 93 spiral was bright green and purple. I know other 92 Konas had a K on the head tube, but I believe the 92 Hei Heis and Hots were the first bikes to have the spiral. Also the K on the seat tube looks 92ish to me.

If this is so, the geometry was designed for a 40-50 mm fork.

I don't understand the serial number format, so I can't tell anything from that I'm afraid.

Blimey, '92 you reckon!! So do you think it'll be worth persevering with it and adding disk mounts to it or should I just retire it from off road duty and get a new bike? Obviously you guys are going to be slightly biased, but would it be too much effort to lavish on such an old bike?

 

[South Bound]

I know they are nice, but isn't

Dating a Kona Hei Hei

going a bit far? Can't you find a chick instead?